This invention relates to a board construction having an integrated electrical interconnect and outlet system, and in particular, to a board/construction allowing for electrical outlet access and receptacle connection continuously along the length thereof.
Typical room construction in both residential and commercial buildings provides one or more discreet outlets for plugging in electrical appliances, lights and such. Standard outlet designs correspond to specific supplied voltage ranges. Often, electrical outlets are wall mounted and provide a single location for connection with single or multiple female electrical connections per discreet outlet location. Wall outlets are typically mounted near the floor and above the baseboard with electrical conduits providing power to the outlet and being circumvented through the building walls to a power source. Electrical or electronic devices with male electrical connections are plugged into the discreetly located electrical outlets. The electrical outlet connection to electrical or electronic devices provides electricity to the device for the purpose of providing power, signal or monitoring. Electrical circuit protection and conditioning devices are typically provided at the central electrical power box, at the discreetly located electrical wall mount, or on an electrical corded outlet extension. Such protection and conditioning devices provide fuse, switching, filtering or other means of preventing excessive electrical current, current spiking, or undesirable current fluctuation. It is also known to provide electrical outlets as electrically corded outlet extensions, commonly referred to as power strips or extension cords. Such power strips have a cord with a plug for plugging into one of the wall outlets and includes a plurality of electrical outlets on a strip.
Such designs are limited in that the location of the outlet may be inconvenient or require running an electrical cord across parts of the room where it may become a trip hazard. In addition, the placement of the electrical outlets may be a hindrance to locating furniture and other objects in the room wherein their placement may cover the electrical outlet.
It is also known to provide construction boarding or molding in various forms including what is commonly referred to as floorboards, floor molding, chair rails, crown molding, ceiling molding, or protection boarding. These construction boards are typically wall mounted to protect the wall from scratches, scuff markings, and damage, and to provide decoration and aesthetic appeal, as well as to ease construction in flooring installation by allowing for irregular or imprecise cuts that are later covered by the board.
Accordingly, it is desirous to provide electrical outlets that provide greater versatility and increased locations throughout a room for receiving an electrical plug as opposed to a few discreet locations as is now common. One suitable way for providing outlets with increased versatility and more plug-in locations is to provide such outlets in the construction boarding or molding in a room. One such electrical outlet is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,211 to Gallant et al., which is incorporated herein by reference. Gallant discloses a service wall outlet having an elongated housing configured to conceal and protect an electrical service conduit. The service outlets are movable along linear sections of the housing to permit placement of the service outlet at different positions along the linear sections. The service outlets can be repositioned while still maintaining the conduits in a concealed and protected position.
Another electrical system providing repositioning capabilities for an electrical outlet is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,052,937 and 5,183,406, both to Glen, which are incorporated herein by reference. Glen discloses a movable electrical receptacle that provides conductors that are placed in a way to try to avoid human contact. The system in Glen utilizes a T-shaped element which is inserted through a groove at the end of a baseboard and can be moved there along to contact continuous conductors with the outlet being mounted with screws at a desired location along the baseboard. Glen also discloses that the system may be used to provide coaxial cable and telephone outlet jacks.
Another baseboard electrical outlet system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,644,988 to Healy. Healy offers an advantage over the disclosures in Gallant and Glen in that it does not require repositioning of discreet outlets along the baseboard. The electrical installation in Healy utilizes three parallel grooves having continuous electrical conductors contained therein for receiving an electrical plug in any position along the length of the baseboard.
An object of the invention, therefore, is to provide an electrical system integrated into construction boarding or molding that allows for electrical outlet access and receptacle connection continuously along the length of the board. Receptacle connection may be provided by direct connection with outlet slots that run the length of the board or by plugging into outlet receptacles that may be plugged in to receiving slots along the length of the board. Such outlet slots provide connection to positive voltage, negative voltage, and common ground. Also, it would be desirable to provide power termination and junction devices including electrical termination brackets or flexible jumpers and electrical power source junction terminations to allow for electrical coupling of separate adjacent multifunctional electrical construction boards and the integration of circuit protection in control devices. Electrical power source junction terminations may provide for connection of single or multiple electrical construction boards to an electrical power source and common grounding. Such a system allows multiple electrical devices to be plugged in anywhere along the periphery of a room where the electrical construction board is placed. These and other objects of invention have been provided in embodiments of the present invention.